Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
Marc Dos Santos heaped praise on Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga, saying the pair’s link-up will be key to Los Angeles FC’s hopes of beating Sporting Kansas City.
LAFC snapped their six-game MLS winless streak with a 2-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls last time out, and the three points moved them third in the Western Conference, just six points behind the leaders, the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Neither Son nor Bouanga registered a goal involvement, but the former had eight shots while the latter created two chances and played a game-high 10 crosses.
And Dos Santos noted how important it is to have them in the squad if LAFC want to succeed.
“They are top-level players. When top-level players are on the field, they find each other,” he said when asked about the pair’s synergy in the win over NYRB.
“In transition moments, when Son and Bouanga are close together, it becomes very threatening for the opponent. The two performed exceptionally well. Son ran hard defensively for the team and was ultimately rewarded.
“With outstanding players like Bouanga and Son up front, building a solid defence allows us to create chances and secure three points at any time.
“Using a back-three formation enables Bouanga and Son to stay closer together, rather than spreading wide on the flanks.”
Sporting, meanwhile, sit bottom of the West with just 15 points, 15 behind San Diego FC in the final playoff place.
They are winless in seven (D1 L6) – a run that started with a 4-0 loss to LAFC – and have lost each of their last three MLS matches, including a 4-3 defeat to FC Dallas last time out thanks to a 97th-minute penalty.
And head coach Raphael Wicky is determined to tighten up his team’s defence to improve their chances.
“It’s so difficult to win games when you concede four goals, so that’s the other side which I’m really frustrated with,” he said of the Dallas loss.
“My feeling was that after the 2-0, we kept playing, but we didn’t play any more with the purpose to go forward and to actually create and to go behind them. We kept playing to have the ball and to basically have a bit of possession.
“We stopped applying pressure, and when you stop applying pressure, we knew that they were going to play diagonal balls, long balls and crosses. That is also something we will have to then look at again.”
— LAFC (@LAFC) September 11, 2026
Sporting Kansas City – Taylor Calheira
Calheira scored his first two MLS goals last Saturday, becoming the second Sporting player with a brace in an MLS match this season (also Dejan Joveljic against the Columbus Crew in February).
Calheira’s two goals are one shy of Calvin Harris and Stephen Afrifa for the most this season by current Sporting players.
Terry scored the 12th goal by an MLS player 17 years old or younger this season, netting in LAFC’s win over the New York Red Bulls.
That equals the most goals in a single MLS season by players 17 or younger, along with the 2004 and 2018 campaigns.
MATCH PREDICTION: LOS ANGELES FC WIN
LAFC are unbeaten in 11 straight meetings with Sporting KC in all competitions (W9 D2), including 10 straight in the regular season (W8 D2).
This is their longest regular-season unbeaten run against a single opponent and Kansas City’s longest winless run against a single team in league play.
Sporting have allowed 58 goals in MLS play this season, tied for the most conceded through 23 matches of a season in the competition’s history with the San Jose Earthquakes in 2024 and Tampa Bay Mutiny in 2001.
Sporting’s goal difference of -35 is the lowest at this stage of an MLS season by any team in league history.
LAFC have only one win in their last nine away matches in all competitions dating back to the beginning of May (D4 L4), though their last two away from home ended in draws.
The lone win in that time was at the LA Galaxy, as LAFC have not won outside of Southern California since a victory at Minnesota United on April 25.
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